We lost of one of the pillars of the UNM Family and Community Medicine department on March 24, 2021. Dr. Betty Skipper passed peacefully supported by love. She was faculty in the Department of Family and Community Medicine before Family Medicine was even a specialty. She was a biostatistician by training with a PhD degree from Case Western Reserve University. She was a faculty member at UNM from 1967-2016, 49 years! As Associate Chair of the department, she spearheaded the Promotion and Tenure process and was a model for mentoring and sponsoring faculty towards success. We are so grateful for her many years of commitment. She had a peaceful, non-threatening expertise that provided comfort and reassurance through her sharp mind and caring heart. This department was built upon her spirit of excellence.
Dr. Skipper was originally hired in our department in November of 1967 as an Assistant Professor. In 1996 she served as the Interim Director of the Division of Community Medicine and became Assistant Chair in July of 1970 of the whole Department of Family, Community and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Skipper was promoted to Associate Professor in July of 1974 and then to Professor in July of 1985. From the years of 2008 to 2016, she has served dutifully in the title of Associate Chair for several Chairs and Interim Chairs. This deep historical knowledge of the department proved invaluable time and again. As the Associate Chair, not only did Dr. Skipper take over the duties of the Chair while the Chair was out, she spearheaded the Promotion and Tenure process each year for junior faculty, coordinating the Departmental Promotion and Tenure Committee and advising the candidate about how to present their body of work.
Dr. Skipper was an exemplary faculty member. She was very active in the scholarly world, publishing her own work as well as mentoring students and junior faculty on their work. Dr. Skipper also contributed to innumerable scholarly works through her outstanding skills in biostatistics. In the area of education, Dr. Skipper spent considerable time using her educational expertise to mentor residents, public health students and medical students on their research projects. She also taught research methodologies through the Cancer Research and Treatment Center, working collaboratively across the School of Medicine to support students and grant writers.
I was so saddened to hear of the passing of one of my oldest and dearest colleagues-- Betty Skipper. She was one of the small number of pioneer faculty in the emerging department I joined back in 1974. She was the kindest, most level-headed and an oh-so helpful colleagues getting our community-based research off the ground. In fact, she was the co-author of some of our most important publications on community engagement, problem-based and community-oriented learning, primary care and public health, school health and community health workers working in Medicaid Managed Care. She had a gentle way of guiding our efforts and, most important, despite our weaknesses in epi and biostat, she never made you feel diminished. She made biostatistics come to life. She had another remarkable attribute--she fought for her role as an academic who would be promoted because she was devoted to lifting others up...not by tooting her own horn, or sequestering herself from others in pursuit of her own research interests. She's a true legend in the medical school who served others at the HSC, not just in DFCM. She's really not replaceable.
She was a gem, and I feel lucky to have worked with her, known her and benefitted from her role modeling.
Dr. Skipper was faculty in this department before Family Medicine was even a specialty. She was a biostatistician by training with a PhD degree from Case Western Reserve University and was a faculty member at UNM from 1967-2016, 49 years! As Associate Chair of the department, she spearheaded the Promotion and Tenure process and was a model for mentoring and sponsoring faculty towards success. We are so grateful for her many years of commitment. She had a peaceful, non-threatening expertise that provided comfort and reassurance through her sharp mind and caring heart. This department was built upon her spirit of excellence.